Wilmington Middle School Parents React To Decision To Cancel Eighth Grade Field Trip

The Wilmington School Committee said it wait until its Sept. 27th meeting to hear comments from Wilmington Middle School parents on a controversial decision to end a popular eighth grade field trip to Washington, D.C. Parents, however, didn’t wait that long, taking to Facebook this weekend to mostly support the two teachers who said they will no longer lead the trip after being attacked on social media by a “vocal minority” of parents.

Lynda Spinazola and Missy Simmons, who had taken about 250 students to Washington for four days in each of the past nine years, said in a June 15 letter to the Wilmington School Committee that they had been attacked "in the community" and on "numerous social media sites." In announcing their decision, the two said it was "unlikely" any other teachers would take over the volunteer effort to organize and lead the trip.

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Parents learned about the decision at the start of this school year. At its meeting last Wednesday, School Committee Chairman Stephen Bjork said the system was exploring alternatives and promised "real answers" when the committee meets on September 27. When Wilmington Patch reported on the meeting Friday, it unleashed a fresh round of comments on social media.

But unlike the comments that Spinazola and Simmons said were “abusive” and prompted them to cancel the trip, the more recent comments were mostly supportive of the two teachers and critical of the parents who had criticized their efforts.

In a June letter to the school committee, the teachers said they have grown frustrated in recent years with parents of students. In their letter, Spinazola and Simmons said a parent who lost a deposit after pulling their child from the trip called them "a disgrace." Other parents had called the school office when their child was on the trip and needed an aspirin or didn't get a doughnut when the trip went to a doughnut shop. The two also said a nurse had been "verbally abused" after disciplining a child on the trip.

This past weekend's social media posts came from a wide range of community members. Some were former students who wrote about how much the trip had meant to them. Others sounded the familiar complaint against social media "trolls" who can publicly vent before thinking.

Not all people leaving comments, however, felt the trip should be canceled. Many said all of the students were being punished for the actions of a few.

Photo by Wilmington Middle School.